tracts**  ®e  times 

jHteSton  Series: 


I'O  L  \ 


Txacts  of  this  Series 


Is  It  God’s  Will? 
The  Lord  for  the 
Body 

By  His  Stripes 
Temples  of  the 
Holy  Ghost 
How  to  Take  It 
How  to  Keep  It 
Should  We  Care  for 
Our  Bodies? 

Faith  and  Fanati¬ 
cism 
Questions  and 
Objections 
How  to  Help  Others 


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NEGLECTED  FIELDS. 


WHILE  we  rejoice  and  thank  God 
because  of  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
already  in  so  many  lands,  yet  we 
cannot  forget  the  many  places  that  are 
still  unevangelized,  and  lying  in  spiritual 
darkness.  A  shaded  map  of  the  world 
representing  the  proportionate  division 
of  the  light  of  the  gospel  leaves  a  very 
sad  impression  upon  the  Christian’s  heart. 
How  vast  a  portion  of  the  map  of  the 
world  is  covered  with  a  dark  pall  of 
heathenism,  besides  the  territories  still 
shaded  with  the  crimson  of  Romanism 
and  the  green  tint  that  marks  the  realms 
of  Mohammedanism ! 

Suppose  we  begin  in  Northern  Asia. 
Look  at  Siberia,  so  rapidly  growing  in 
population  and  containing  now  at  least 
6,000,000  people,  and  yet  closed  by  the 
Russion  government  to  all  foreign  mis¬ 
sionaries.  Sweep  your  eyes  over  the 
plains  of  Mongolia,  whose  2,000,000  have 
been  barely  touched  by  the  feet  of  half  a 
dozen  pioneer  missionaries.  Pass  on  to 
Tibet  with  8,000,000  of  souls  utterly  shut 


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out  from  the  offer  of  salvation,  if  we  ex¬ 
cept  a  few  tribes  on  the  borders  of  India 
and  China,  where  a  handful  of  mission¬ 
aries  are  preparing  to  enter  this  long 
closed  land.  Hard  by  lies  Nepaul  and  Bhu¬ 
tan,  with  a  population  between  them  of 
about  30,000,000,  and  here  we  find  one  or 
two  mission  stations  which  can  scarcely 
be  called  established.  West  of  Tibet  lies 
Afghanistan,  with  4,000,000  Moham¬ 
medans,  and  Beluchistan  with  about  a 
million,  all  utterly  steeped  in  Moslem 
fanaticism.  North  of  this  lies  Turkestan 
and  the  Russian  provinces  of  Central  Asia, 
with  an  aggregate  population  of  at  least 
8,000,000,  and  these  are  all  without  the 
gospel.  Then  we  come  to  Arabia,  the  old 
land  of  Ishmael,  first  cousin,  we  might 
say,  to  God’s  chosen  people,  and  surel> 
entitled  to  a  share  in  the  blessings  of  the 
gospel.  And  here  we  have  at  least  a  mil¬ 
lion  souls  who  have  never  heard  of  Christ. 
If  we  add  to  these  Tonquin,  with  its  20,- 
000,000,  we  have  in  Asia  80,000,000  of 
people  in  these  ten  countries  who  are  still 
sunk  in  heathen  darkness. 

Coming  next  to  Africa,  we  reach  the 
provinces  included  in  what  is  known  as 


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the  Anglo-Egyptian  Soudan,  including 
Khartoum,  Dongola,  Kassala,  Sennar  and 
Kordofan,  all  containing  a  population  of 
at  least  10,000,000,  and  these  are  all  with¬ 
out  the  gospel.  But  now  we  strike  the 
western  Soudan,  taking  in  the  great 
Haussa  country,  the  region  around  Lake 
Tchad,  the  French  and  German  territory 
and  all  that  vast  region  south  of  the 
Sahara  Desert,  and  here  we  find  at  least 
50,000,000  without  the  knowledge  of 
Christ.  Two  bright  spots  meet  us  in 
Central  Africa,  namely,  Uganda  and  the 
Lower  Congo ;  but  when  we  pass  up  to 
the  headwaters  of  the  Congo  and  go 
north  and  south  for  a  thousand  miles,  we 
find  a  vast  region  uncivilized,  unevangel¬ 
ized,  and  with  at  least  30,000,000  souls  in 
heathen  darkness.  Here  then  we  have  in 
Africa,  nearly  a  hundred  million  more, 
not  only  without  Christ,  but  without  the 
opportunity  of  even  hearing  His  message 
of  salvation. 

In  the  islands  of  the  sea,  among  the  In¬ 
dians  of  South  America,  and  in  several  of 
the  republics  of  that  continent,  we  should 
find  20,000,000  more  who  may  be  said  to 
be  entirely  unevangelized,  making  a  total 


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of  200,000,000  of  earth’s  inhabitants — 
more  than  the  entire  Protestant  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  globe,  without  the  gospel  and 
without  the  chance  of  hearing  it. 

Among  these  neglected  fields  we  may 
emphasize  four  as  of  special  importaice 
and  urgency.  The  first  is  Anam,  or  Ton- 
quin,  the  French  colonial  possessions  of 
Southeastern  Asia.  Here  are  more  than 
20,000,000  without  a  Protestant  mission¬ 
ary.  There  are  thousands  of  Roman 
Catholic  priests,  but  the  gospel  they 
preach  is  little  better  than  heathenism, 
and,  in  fact,  the  heathen  accept  it  be¬ 
cause  its  processions  and  image  worship 
are  so  much  like  their  own  Buddhist 
ceremonies.  The  effort  has  just  been 
made  by  a  young  French  missionary  of 
Montreal,  Mr.  Dyan  and  his  wife,  to  lo¬ 
cate  in  Tonquin,  and  they  are  at  present 
studying  the  language  in  South  China 
with  a  view  to  begin  work.  But  what 
are  these  among  so  many  ? 

The  second  great  neglected  field  is 
Tibet.  This  is  the  headquarters  of 
Oriental  Buddhism,  and  its  chief  city, 
Lhassa-  has  a  paramount  influence  all 
over  Asia.  The  borders  of  Tibet  have 


5 


been  reached  for  some  time  by  the  Mo¬ 
ravian  mission  in  northwestern  India  in 
Little  Tibet,  by  Miss  Taylor  and  her 
friends  by  way  of  Dharjeeling  and  Si- 
khim,  and  by  the  Alliance  mission  on 
the  frontier  of  Tibet,  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  recent  treaties  with  China  will 
go  far  to  open  up  Tibet  to  foreign  in¬ 
tercourse  ;  but  still  this  great  land  re¬ 
mains  to  be  occupied  in  its  real  citadel. 

The  next  loud  cry  comes  from  the  Sou¬ 
dan.  Somewhere  between  sixty  and  a 
hundred  million  of  people  are  scattered 
over  a  vast  belt  of  Africa,  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  wide,  reaching  from 
Khartoum  on  the  east,  to  the  Niger  on 
the  west,  and  God  has  recently  been 
moving  in  a  marked  way  through  His 
providence  to  bring  both  the  eastern  and 
western  sections  of  this  territory  under 
the  control  of  a  Protestant  government — 
Great  Britain.  The  defeat  of  the  Mahdi 
in  the  east,  and  the  more  recent  annexa¬ 
tion  of  the  Haussa  country  in  the  west, 
to  British  territory  seem  like  a  direct 
cl  allenge  to  the  Church  of  God  to  arise 
and  possess  the  land.  The  difficulties 
of  climate,  language  and  transportation 

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are  still  great,  but  if  the  soldiers  of  an 
earthly  sovereign  could  penetrate  these 
barriers,  what  should  hinder  the  army  of 
the  living  God? 

Next  in  importance  among  the  world’s 
neglected  fields  are  the  Indians  of  South 
America.  Here  are  nearly  5,000,000  of 
the  original  owners  of  the  continent.  We 
have  robbed  them  of  their  heritage;  let 
us  give  them  a  better  one.  Shall  we  not 
labor  and  plan  that  the  thoughts  and 
plans  which  have  been  so  long  discussed 
in  both  hemispheres,  looking  to  a  real 
forward  movement  to  reach  the  Indian 
population  of  South  America,  may  be  at 
length  really  fulfilled  ? 

The  great  apostle  Paul,  the  true  pio¬ 
neer  of  modern  missions,  declared  that  it 
was  his  great  ambition  to  “preach  the 
gospel  in  the  regions  beyond,  and  not  to 
build  upon  another  man’s  foundations.” 
Let  this  be  the  noble  ambition  of  the 
young  hearts  and  lives  to  whom  the  mes¬ 
sage  of  this  tract  shall  come,  to  do  some 
definite  work  that  no  one  else  has  done 
or  would  have  done,  and  to  reach  some 
race  which  but  for  you  must  have  per¬ 
ished  in  heathen  darkness. 


7 


The  value  of  mission  work  does  not 
merely  consist  in  the  aggregate  number 
of  souls  you  save,  but  largely  in  the  dis¬ 
tribution  of  the  work,  so  that  it  shall 
reach  all  tribes  and  tongues  without  ex¬ 
ception.  It  would  seem  that  as  a  pre¬ 
liminary  preparation  for  His  coming,  the 
Lord  requires  that  the  gospel  should  be 
“preached  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations.” 

Therefore,  it  is  not  enough  to  satisfy 
His  plan  if  we  reach  great  numbers  in 
one  or  two  nations ;  He  wants  every  race 
to  be  represented  in  that  company  which 
will  meet  Him  at  His  coming,  and  which 
He  shall  present  to  Himself  in  that  day 
as  His  glorious  Bride.  Shall  we  then, 
beloved  friends  who  read  these  lines, 
endeavor  with  intelligent  zeal  and  self- 
sacrificing  liberality  and  love,  to  do  our 
best  to  hasten  His  coming  and  prepare 
His  way? 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


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